When the content parameter is used the doc box normally doesn't show the [edit] [purge] links in the top right corner. Note that if the /doc page exists a link to it is still shown in the link box below the doc box.

But parameter 1 and the content parameter can also be combined, like this:

Then the pagename fed as parameter 1 is used for the [edit] [purge] links and for the /doc link in the link box below the doc box. But the content parameter is used for the content shown in the doc box. The above code means that the content is transcluded as "{{Template:Any page/doc|parameters}}". In this example a parameter is also fed to the /doc page being loaded.

Best practice

The code should be added at the bottom of the template code, with no space before "<noinclude>" (which would cause extra space on pages where the template is used).

If the documentation page contains <includeonly> or <noinclude> tags as part of the visible documentation text, replace the "<" with "&lt;".

The heading

When in Template space this template shows this heading:

Template documentation

In most other namespaces, such as "Wikipedia:", it shows this heading:

Documentation

But when on File (image) pages it shows this heading:

Summary

The heading parameter can be used to set the heading to something else. Like this:

{{documentation| heading = Infobox documentation }}

If the heading parameter is empty but defined, no heading is shown and no [edit] [purge] links are shown. Like this:

{{documentation| heading = }}

The heading-style parameter can be fed optional CSS values. Without quotation marks " " but with the ending semicolons ;. For example:

heading-style = color: red; font-size: 150%;

The link box

Below the big doc box is a small link box that shows some meta-data about the documentation. The link box shows different things depending on what parameters are fed to this template, and in which namespace it is used. In some cases the link box is not shown at all.

To hide the link box, add the parameter "|link box=off".

You can also insert customised text in the link box, by defining the |link box= parameter. For example:

Automatic functions

If the documentation page doesn't exist, the [create] link includes a preload page so that clicking it will pre-fill the edit form with the basic documentation page format. Preload text is also used for the /sandbox and /testcases (create) links.

When this template is on a protected template page it now automatically adds {{pp-template}} which shows the grey or red padlock in the top right corner. So no need to manually add {{pp-template}} to templates that use {{documentation}}.

In MediaWiki space, since <noinclude> often doesn't work in system messages and since MediaWiki space needs to be kept clean for performance reasons.

When placed on talkpages this template usually is placed near the top of the page and without <noinclude> tags.

The /doc, /sandbox and /testcases pages should normally be in subject space, except in the namespaces that don't have the MediaWikisubpage feature enabled: Main, File, MediaWiki and Category. (But currently we only show the /sandbox and /testcases links from User, User talk, Template and Template talk space.) There are also a whole bunch of other technical reasons why the /doc page must be stored under the talkpage for those namespaces.

This template automatically points its create links for the /doc, /sandbox and /testcases to the right namespace.